Chelsea, Newcastle and Man City in nightmare draw as Premier League clubs discover Champions League last-16 opponents

Chelsea and Newcastle avoided an all-English clash in a mouthwatering Champions League last-16 draw.

The Blues will instead face Paris Saint-Germain while the Magpies take on Barcelona.

AFP

Elsewhere, Manchester City drew Real Madrid while a tie against Norwegian minnows Bodo/Glimt was their other possibility.

For the other English sides, Arsenal landed Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool will play Galatasaray and Tottenham were drawn against Atletico Madrid.

All six Premier League teams advanced through the league phase to make up more than a third of the sides left in the competition.

Newcastle were the only English club forced to go through the play-offs after Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham all finished inside the top eight and progressed straight to the round of 16.

The Magpies eased their way through with a 9-3 aggregate victory over Qarabag.

First leg ties will take place on March 10 and March 11, before the second legs on March 17 and March 18.

The round of 16 schedule will be released later on Friday.

This year’s final is set for May 30 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest.

Premier League leaders Arsenal, who also topped the league phase with a perfect record, are currently favourites to go all the way.

Mikel Arteta’s men are still competing on all four fronts domestically and in Europe with a historic quadruple still possible.